ASPEN-AREA NAT’L FOREST UNDER FIRE RESTRICTIONS

Fire restrictions went into effect Friday on the 2.3 million-acre White River National Forest, which includes the Aspen area.

Campfires at dispersed sites outside of official campgrounds will be banned. Campfires in metal fire grates within formal campgrounds still are allowed.

The moisture content in vegetation changed so drastically between last week and this week that the Forest Service decided it must enact stage 1 fire restrictions, said Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams. The decision was made “an hour or two” before the Buffalo Mountain Fire broke out Tuesday in Summit County about 2 miles west of Silverthorne, he said.

However, that fire, almost entirely in the White River National Forest, reinforced the decision, according to Fitzwilliams.

Man struck, killed by train in Louisville.

Louisville police reported Saturday that a 35-year-old man was struck and killed early this morning by a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train in the downtown area.

According to a department news release, engineers aboard a BNSF train traveling northbound through downtown Louisville just after 3 a.m. saw what first appeared to be debris in the tracks. As they drew closer, they realized it was a person and put on the emergency brakes.

However, the 35-year-old man was hit and was pronounced dead at the scene, near Front and Caledonia streets.

The Boulder County Coroner’s office is investigating, and will notify the man’s family. His identity has not yet been released by authorities.

Wife files wrongful death lawsuit against rafting company.

ASPEN» The wife of a Maryland man who died during a rafting trip down the Roaring Fork River filed a lawsuit accusing a Colorado rafting company of negligence and fraud.

The Aspen Times reports Allison Parker filed a lawsuit Friday against Aspen Whitewater Rafting in the death of her husband, James Abromitis, who died June 15, 2016, after he was ejected from a boat two separate times.

The lawsuit claims the company “knowingly misrepresented and concealed the nature and danger” of the water, and then “engaged in grossly negligent and intentionally reckless conduct” causing Abromitis to be tossed twice from the boat.

Aspen Whitewater Rafting owner Jim Ingram said he didn’t know about the lawsuit and referred questions to his lawyer. That lawyer did not return a phone message seeking comment.

Missing boater’s body recovered in northern Colorado lake.

Authorities have recovered the body of a man who went missing in a northern Colorado lake.

Steamboat Today reports 64-year-old David Bass, of Hutchinson, Kan., was with another man on the shore of Steamboat Lake trying to fix a problem with their boat’s trolling motor Friday afternoon. The boat drifted away, and Bass swam after it before disappearing under the surface.

Routt County Coroner Rob Ryg says, “We don’t really know a lot about why he went down.”

Bass’ body was recovered just after midnight early Saturday morning, and an autopsy is scheduled for Monday.